Hong Kong in the time of Xi
Scope and effects of Xi Jinping's visit to Hong Kong. Marco Orioles's article
For his first trip out of mainland China since the beginning of the Covid emergency, Xi Jinping chooses to visit Hong Kong on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the return of the fragrant port by Great Britain and the inauguration ceremony of the new chief executive John Lee . .
AN UNRECOGNIBLE HONG KONG
Xi found an unrecognizable climate compared to similar recurrences before the pandemic. The Hong Kong of 2022 is in fact a territory in which the democratic pressures that had led to the great protests of 2013, 2014 and 2019 have been definitively tamed.
Now on the island there is the draconian law on national security wanted by Beijing and introduced in 2020 precisely to quell the protest movements that have arisen to contest the growing interference of the Chinese Communist Party.
Nothing in Hong Kong is as it was before the introduction of the National Security Act, with thousands of opponents sent to jail and the vibrant free press silenced by judicial evidence.
Xi's presence was especially useful in highlighting this reality. As John P. Burns, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hong Kong, told the New York Times , it was certainly a question of "celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary" of the island's return to China, but also of "declaring victory on pandemocratic opposition and its supporters ".
THE WORDS OF XI
This was a prominent scenario in Xi's speeches during his less than 24-hour stay.
“After his return to his homeland”, the President said for example in words reported by CNN , “Hong Kong compatriots have become masters of their lives. The people of Hong Kong administered Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy, and this was the beginning of true democracy in Hong Kong ”.
What Xi meant by "true democracy" was made clear in later passages. "Political power", is his thought again reported by the New York Times , "must be in the hands of patriots … no country or region in the world would allow non-patriotic or even seditious forces to take power."
A SECRET POLITICAL SYSTEM
Here it is clear the reference to the electoral reforms implemented in the last two years, which led to the establishment of a new legislative assembly composed only of loyal members in Beijing, who in turn elected former security minister John Lee as the only candidate in a top-down selection process.
Lee's choice was not accidental. With a forty-year career in the police forces behind him, the new governor is the one who zealously presided over the suppression of the protest movement and the implementation of a national security law which, as he himself stated during the oath, “Saved Hong Kong from chaos”.
THE SIGHTS OF XI
It is on him that Xi will now rely to maintain order on the island and allow the President himself to claim the triumph over dissidents at the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to be held in October and in which the new helmsman will try to obtain for himself an unprecedented third term at the helm of the country.
As Sonny Lo, a Hong Kong political commentator, pointed out to the New York Times , it is more than likely that "at the October Party Congress (Xi) he will highlight the success (of the One Country Two Systems model)."
THE BITTER OF BLINKEN
But, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted, of the model on which the political system of the island should have been based until 2047 according to the agreements made by China with Great Britain, the funeral has just been celebrated.
It is in fact evident, reads the statement released by Blinken, "that the authorities of Hong Kong and Beijing no longer consider democratic participation, fundamental freedoms and independent media as part of this vision".
THE FRUSTRATION OF THE HONGKONGHES
For their part, the citizens of Hong Kong experienced the anniversary with a mix of apathy and frustration. The imposing police line-up has discouraged any ambition for demonstration that, before the national security law, characterized every year on this anniversary.
And then, as they say, the Hong Kongers are voting with their feet. As ISPI points out, “the exodus of residents from the island continues. If in 2020 the population of Hong Kong had decreased by 90,000 (units), in 2021 it fell by another 23,600 (..). Residents and companies are moving en masse to Singapore, Dubai, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, while Hong Kong citizens are taking advantage of the new visa programs opened by Canada and the UK ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/hong-kong-ai-tempi-di-xi/ on Sun, 03 Jul 2022 07:59:52 +0000.